Park Row Balcony

The issue

The Park Row townhouses at 88-94 Park Street were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. One of the character defining features of this distinctive collection of row houses is the cast iron balcony grills above the elevated first floor entries. Over time, the cast iron had deteriorated badly, and in some instances the casting were completely missing from the balcony frames.

Our Position

The homeowners’ association formed a working partnership with a local craftsman that creatively addressed the preservation needs with the financial capacity of the owners. To manage costs on what could be a prohibitively expensive repair to a purely decorative element of the building, the project was spread out over four phases and partial panels were cast for selective repairs.

Greater Portland Landmarks awarded Standfast Works Forge and the Park Street Townhouse Owners’ Association a 2014 Preservation Honor Award to celebrate their preservation and restoration of the cast iron balcony, a character defining element of the Park Row Townhouses.